Vehicle Routing in Africa

Institut

Lehrstuhl für Fahrzeugtechnik

Typ

Semesterarbeit / Masterarbeit /

Inhalt

experimentell / theoretisch /  

Beschreibung

A Vehicle Routing Problem for a Decentralized Service Delivery Concept

 

Development of a mathematical model for Vehicle-based Services and its application to real-life use cases in Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia

Vehicle-based Services is a newly developed vehicle concept that addresses existing trends toward greater modularization and flexibility. It is designed to offer a range of different services brought to the user by multi-purpose vehicles, enabling a decentralized provision of services. Cost potentials that can presumably be achieved in this way may especially play out in regions characterized by low service demand densities.

Practical applications of Vehicle-based Services include the provision of vital services in rural areas in developing countries where access to those same services is often non-existent or severely limited.

It is the goal of this work to develop a method that allows exploring the potential of this decentralized service concept. Specifically, a mixed-integer programming (MIP) approach is used to model Vehicle-based Service operations. This model is applied to pilot regions in Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire for analyzing the potential of Vehicle-based Services in the specific context of these case studies.

This thesis should therefore contain the following work packages:

• Literature research on existing mixedinteger programming models which may be suitable to describe operations of Vehicle-based Services or specific features of it
• Selection of a suitable modeling approach to formulate a MIP model which accurately and sufficiently describes Vehiclebased Service operations
• Development of a solution method to solve the MIP model
• Conduction of a case study which applies the model to selected areas of interest in Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia
• Analysis and Interpretation of the results obtained by the case studies to derive managerial insights for the implementation of Vehiclebased Services for the application areas in Côte d’Ivoire and Ethiopia

 

Voraussetzungen

The thesis document can be written in German or English language. Working from home is possible and encouraged in the current pandemic situation, except for the international travel part. The student agrees to execute the thesis by herself and list all used scientific material correctly. The submitted thesis remains in the institute’s possession as an examination document

Möglicher Beginn

sofort

Kontakt

Clemens Pizzinini, M.Sc.
pizzininiftm.mw.tum.de